Hidden in plain sight
Inquiry into disability-related
harassment
Executive summary
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Executive summary
Key findings
Several serious cases of abuse of disabled people – such as Fiona
Pilkington and her daughter, Francecca, who died in 2007 after suffering
years of harassment – have been reported in the media over the last few
years. Our inquiry shows that harassment of disabled people is a serious
problem which needs to be better understood.
 The inquiry has confirmed that the cases of disability-related
harassment which come to court and receive media attention are
only the tip of the iceberg. Our evidence indicates that, for many
disabled people, harassment is a commonplace experience. Many
come to accept it as inevitable.
 Disabled people often do not report harassment, for a number of
reasons: it may be unclear who to report it to; they may fear the
consequences of reporting; or they may fear that the police or
other authorities will not believe them. A culture of disbelief exists
around this issue. For this reason, we describe it as a problem
which is ‘hidden in plain sight’.
 There is a systemic failure by public authorities to recognise the
extent and impact of harassment and abuse of disabled people,
take action to prevent it happening in the first place and intervene
effectively when it does. These organisational failings need to be
addressed as a matter of urgency and the full report makes a
number of recommendations aimed at helping agencies to do so.
 Any serious attempt to prevent the harassment of disabled people
will need to consider more than organisational change, although
that will be an important precondition to progress. The bigger
challenge is to transform the way disabled people are viewed,
valued and included in society.
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Ten cases
As part of this inquiry we examined 10 cases in which disabled people
have died or been seriously injured. Our intention in looking at this
selection of cases is to illustrate some of the key features of disabilityrelated harassment. They give us some clues as to how and why such
behaviour happens, and how, even when it is of a very extreme nature, it
can go unchallenged.
The victims in these cases were: David Askew, ‘the vulnerable adult’,
Keith Philpott, Shaowei He, Christopher Foulkes, Colin Greenwood,
Steven Hoskin, Laura Milne, Michael Gilbert and Brent Martin. For more
details of the cases please see the full report.
The key findings from examining these cases are:
 Public authorities were often aware of earlier, less serious
incidents but had taken little action to bring the harassment to an
end. In some cases, no effective action was taken to protect the
disabled person even when public authorities were aware of
allegations of very serious assaults. This left the disabled person
at risk of further harm.
 Many of the victims in these cases were socially isolated, which
put them at greater risk of harassment and violence. The
harassment often took place in the context of exploitative
relationships.
 Left unmanaged, non-criminal behaviour and ‘petty’ crime has the
potential to escalate into more extreme behaviour. Several of the
deaths were preceded by relentless non-criminal and minor
criminal behaviour, which gradually increased in frequency and
intensity.
 Public authorities sometimes focused on the victim’s behaviour
and suggested restrictions to their lives to avoid harassment
rather than dealing with the perpetrators.
 There was often a failure to share intelligence and co-ordinate
responses across different services and organisations.
 Disability is rarely considered as a possible motivating factor in
crime and antisocial behaviour. As a result, the incidents are given
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low priority and appropriate hate incident policy and legislative
frameworks are not applied.
Hidden in plain sight
The harassment of disabled people is not confined to just a few extreme
cases. The incidents which reach the courts and the media are just the
most public examples of a profound social problem.
For many disabled people, harassment is an unwelcome part of
everyday life. Many come to accept it as inevitable, and focus on living
with it as best they can. And too often that harassment can take place in
full view of other people and the authorities without being recognised for
what it is. A culture of disbelief exists around this issue. The harassment
of disabled people can take many different forms, including bullying,
cyber-bullying, physical violence, sexual harassment and assault,
domestic violence, financial exploitation and institutional abuse.
 Around 1.9 million disabled people were victims of crime in
2009/10. While we do not know exactly how many were victims of
harassment, we do know that disabled people are more likely to be
victims of crime than people who are not disabled. There are some
studies which indicate that disabled people may be more likely to
be victims of antisocial behaviour, although more research is
needed.
 Fear of crime and its impact are greater for disabled people.
 Harassment takes place in many different settings, including in the
home, on public transport and in public places, and at school or
college.
 Harassment can be perpetrated by strangers, but also by friends,
partners and family members.
Disabled people often do not want to report harassment when it
occurs, for a range of reasons including fear of consequences,
concerns that they won’t be believed and lack of information about
who to report it to.
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Responses to harassment
A central aim of this inquiry was to investigate how disability-related
harassment is dealt with by public authorities, public transport operators
and others. The current system is not succeeding in preventing
harassment occurring in the first place; neither is it ensuring that
perpetrators face the consequences of their actions. Taken together, this
amounts to systemic institutional failure to protect disabled people and
their families from harassment.
Our key findings are:
 Incidents are often dealt with in isolation rather than as a pattern of
behaviour.
 There is a lack of consideration by agencies of disability as a
possible motivating factor in bullying, antisocial behaviour and
crime. As a result, the response to harassment is given low priority
and appropriate hate incident policy and legislative frameworks
are not applied.
 Left unmanaged, low level behaviour has the potential to escalate
into more extreme behaviour. Opportunities to bring harassment to
an end are being missed.
 There is sometimes a focus on the victim’s behaviour and
‘vulnerability’ rather than dealing with the perpetrators.
 Agencies do not tend to work effectively together to bring ongoing
disability-related harassment to an end.
 There has been little investment in understanding the causes of
harassment and preventing it from happening in the first place.
 There are barriers to reporting and recording harassment across
all sectors.
 There are barriers to accessing justice, redress and support so
most perpetrators face few consequences for their actions and
many victims receive inadequate support.
 There is a lack of shared learning from the most severe cases, so
the same mistakes are repeated again and again.
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Manifesto for change
Our inquiry uncovered evidence that there is much which all agencies
involved could do to improve their performance in preventing and
dealing with disability-related harassment. Our full report sets out
specific measures for each relevant sector which our evidence suggests
could make a major difference. These include: ministers in key
departments, local government leaders, housing providers, the NHS, the
police, the courts, schools and public transport operators.
Over the next six months we will consult widely with stakeholders on
whether these are the right steps, how they might work and whether
there are any other measures which might be more effective. We want to
find out how these recommendations can be embedded in planned
initiatives, and be cost-effective. Most importantly, we recognise that we
will only succeed in effecting change when others take responsibility and
ownership for these recommendations.
At this stage, it is clear that there are seven areas where improvements
will show to us that society is achieving real progress in tackling
harassment.
They require multi-agency co-operation in most instances and a real
commitment to effective partnership working if we are to see results. We
understand that, in some areas, they may require additional resources
and extra cost and we are conscious of the financial and operational
constraints which public authorities are under. For this reason we are
keen to engage with all parties to find out how the improvement can be
achieved for the most reasonable cost.
Seven core recommendations
 There is real ownership of the issue in organisations critical to
dealing with harassment. Leaders show strong personal
commitment and determination to deliver change.
 Definitive data is available which spells out the scale, severity and
nature of disability harassment and enables better monitoring of
the performance of those responsible for dealing with it.
 The criminal justice system is more accessible and responsive to
victims and disabled people and provides effective support to
them.
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 We have a better understanding of the motivations and
circumstances of perpetrators and are able to more effectively
design interventions.
 The wider community has a more positive attitude towards
disabled people and better understands the nature of the problem.
 Promising approaches to preventing and responding to
harassment and support systems for those who require them have
been evaluated and disseminated.
 All frontline staff who may be required to recognise and respond to
issues of disability-related harassment have received effective
guidance and training.
There is real ownership of the issue in organisations critical to
dealing with harassment. Leaders show strong personal
commitment and determination to deliver change
Our evidence shows the most critical factor in organisations improving
their performance, is the level of commitment and determination to
address the issue shown by their leaders. It is, after all, senior officers
and executives who set the priorities for organisations. If there is a real
and visible commitment to change at the most senior level then it is likely
that this will drive real change throughout the organisations which they
lead.
In addition to showing leadership within their organisations, we would
expect leaders to embrace public accountability. Transparency over
performance is one aspect to this – which involves a real commitment to
share data which shows how their organisation is performing. Another
aspect is the display of a personal willingness to be publicly accountable
for any serious instances which occur in their area. Finally, we would
expect this personal commitment to be formally recognised within public
authorities’ core objectives, either within their governance structures or
otherwise.
Definitive data is available which spells out the scale, severity and
nature of disability harassment and enables better monitoring of
the performance of those responsible for dealing with it
While our inquiry has uncovered a great deal about disability-related
harassment, there remains much which we don’t know. Without
comprehensive data, across all agencies, it will be impossible for our
society to properly respond. In the interests of transparency, we also
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need public authorities to publish their performance so that the public
can assess how they are performing.
We recommend that all data systems in these agencies:
 are able to record whether the victim is a disabled person (and/or
has another type of protected characteristic)
 are able to determine:
o whether the incident was motivated by the victim’s disability
and/or any other form of protected characteristic
o the clearly identified lead officer who will take the issue
forward
o whether or not this is a first instance of harassment or part of
a more general, or escalating, pattern
o the priority status accorded to each incident in relation to risk
to the victim or, if known, motives and circumstances of the
perpetrator
o where harassment persists, whether and to what extent
priority status should be given to a situation
o which other local agencies have been alerted to the problem
or, if this has not occurred, why not and under what
circumstances should such agencies become involved. Also
what appropriate partnership arrangements should be in
place
 enable identification of all ongoing or repeat instances to avoid the
anxiety and risk that such instances of behaviour will become
progressively more serious
 share data across agencies and identify solutions to effective data
sharing, particularly where lives may be at risk, to ensure that all
involved have a comprehensive picture.
The criminal justice system is more accessible and responsive to
victims and disabled people and provides effective support to them
Another major requirement of the general response to disability-related
harassment, and other forms of crime and antisocial behaviour, is that
victims feel adequately supported by all the agencies involved and that
these agencies respond to their concerns effectively.
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Wherever a disabled person first reports an incident, the route to
reporting, and ultimately the criminal justice system, needs to be clear
and unhindered.
We recommend the following:
- all agencies involved with dealing with the issue should review,
and, where necessary, remove all obstacles to the reporting of
disability-related harassment. This will, in particular, involve
seeking the views of disabled people and their representatives
- the police and prosecution services should always establish
whether a victim is disabled and, if they are, should consider
whether that may be a factor in why the crime/incident occurred.
They should not rely solely on the victim’s perception. They should
reconsider this at several stages throughout the investigation.
Crimes against disabled people should rarely be considered
motiveless.
We have a better understanding of the motivations and
circumstances of perpetrators and are able to more effectively
design interventions
One fundamental issue in dealing with the problem of disability-related
harassment, and other forms of abuse, is to understand why it occurs.
The most urgent issue is getting a better understanding of the
characteristics and motivations of those who commit acts of disabilityrelated harassment.
In addition, there needs to be more awareness of the general structures
and attitudes (and the interactions between them) which give rise to the
problem in the first place.
To address these issues, we recommend that:
- targeted research is undertaken in collaboration with National
Offender Management Service and local authorities in Scotland to
build a clearer picture of perpetrator profiles, motivations and
circumstances and, in particular, to inform prevention and
rehabilitation
- criminal justice agencies support bodies that commission research
to stimulate and support studies that look into why harassment
occurs in the first place and broader attitudes towards disabled
people.
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The wider community has a more positive attitude towards disabled
people and better understands the nature of the problem
With the possible exception of some of the cases which are given a high
profile by the media, disability-related harassment does not seem to be
perceived as serious or widespread by the public. It is, as we describe,
hidden in plain sight. Changing wider public attitudes towards the
seriousness of such harassment, and more general social attitudes
towards disabled people, forms an important part of a wider solution.
In order to initiate change in this area, we recommend that public
authorities:
- review the effectiveness of current awareness-raising activities
concerning disability-related harassment where they exist and
assess where gaps in their campaigns could usefully be filled
- use the public sector equality duty as a framework for helping
promote positive images of disabled people and redress
disproportionate representation of disabled people across all areas
of public life
- encourage all individuals and organisations to recognise, report
and respond to any incidences of disability-related harassment
they may encounter.
All frontline staff who may be required to recognise and respond to
issues of disability-related harassment have received proper
training
It is clear from our evidence that reporting of and responses
toharassment would both be improved substantially with better training
for frontline staff providing public services. The cases show that even
staff such as environmental health officers may come across instances
of harassment and the ability to make appropriate safeguarding referrals
could make a significant difference to people’s lives.
To address these issues, we recommend that:
- all frontline staff working in all agencies, whether public
authorities or voluntary and private sector organisations, where
disability-related harassment, antisocial behaviour or other similar
forms of activity are likely to be an issue, are trained in how to
recognise and ensure appropriate safeguarding
- more generally all agencies should consider whether their wider
staff training and development processes and appraisal and
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promotion systems should be amended to ensure such knowledge
becomes embedded and an incentive for better job performance
- staff gain an understanding of disability equality matters and
appropriate engagement with disabled service users.
Promising approaches to preventing and responding to
harassment have been evaluated and disseminated
There is much in what many public bodies are doing which might
emerge as good practice and create vital learning which other bodies
can follow to help reduce the problem. However, many of these
promising approaches are in their infancy and as yet we do not know
conclusively what works and what doesn’t.
Therefore, we recommend that public bodies conduct rigorous
evaluation of their response and prevention projects over a three year
time frame so that we can build a shared knowledge of the most
effective routes to take to deal with harassment and reduce its
occurrence. All evaluations should then be widely and openly shared so
that all bodies can learn from them.
More detailed recommendations can be found in the full report in respect
of key sectors including:
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Education
Criminal justice
Local and central government
Health
Housing
Social care
Transport
Partnerships
Regulators and inspectorates
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